Pine Brook Road Partners announced that it raised more than $1.4 billion for its first private equity fund.  Pine Brook plans to invest $100MM to $200MM of equity in companies that operate energy or financial service businesses.

However, unlike most leveraged buyout firms, Pine Brook takes an innovative approach to dealmaking, providing companies with a "line of equity" commitment instead of using a large amounts of debt to acquire companies as is typical in a leveraged buyout.

Talk about all-equity buyouts, or deals funded without debt, has increased in M&A circles during the last several months as debt has become harder to obtain.

However, Pine Brook isn't the only private equity group that has taken an equity-focused approach to doing deals. Chicago private equity firm GTCR Golder Rauner has used a similar approach for years.  GTCR typically makes a substantial equity commitment upfront, a $100 million commitment for example, to acquire and grow a new business with a team of executives. However, rather than fund the entire investment up front, GTCR will allow a portfolio company to draw down capital as needed over time.